Monday, April 13, 2009

Deidre Heaton- Lost Prairie


It seems there are two kinds of people who live efficiently and without alot of extra baggage: The farmer and the perpetual traveler. Montana's Deidre Heaton has been both- raised on a farm and set out on the road at an early age Deidre discovered and uncovered her own songs, the results of which are unveiled on Lost Prairie, Deidre's long awaited debut. Efficient, well crafted and straight to the core of the land, Lost Prairie is twelve songs of genre wandering Americana tales weaved into a sound Heaton makes her own.
Recorded at Snoring Hound Studios, Deidre's tales are beautifully accompanied with just enough fiddle, dobro and upright bass to make the songs come alive without stepping on the well crafted melody and verse. The first couple songs of Lost Prairie make it abundantly clear that Deidre is no newcomer to the performing scene. Heaton sings with a natural confidence and talent that will no doubt spark folks minds with thoughts of Emmylou Harris and Iris Dement. What will linger is the evocative imagery, from small towns and open prairies, from Saturday Night sin to Sunday Morning repentance of which Heaton deftly gets to the heart of the character, putting into the stories folks could be someone you've known or could be you. And when the record ends and you replay it to try and discover who is who, you'll realize you've inhabited the record. That is a record worthy of purchase.
General information and tour dates:
Previews and purchase:

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Billy Southern- El Chivato



Well I've been fortunate enough to land a "preview" copy of El Chivato, the second release from Duluth songwriter Billy Southern and on first listens it seems as appropriate a record as any to rekindle these pages with a little writeup. Like it's predecessor "Swamp Dog," El Chivato is ably recorded and engineered by Jake Larson (Charlie Parr, Off The Mike Mark et. al) and is once again accompanied by longtime live show cohort Barry Schwarz on lead acoustic guitar as well as Karl Anderson on upright bass along with Jillian Lantry on fiddle and backing vocals and Greg Tiburzi on percussion.

El Chivato starts unassumingly enough with Three Lakes Road, a true story of a couple of young kids (one a young Southern) lost in the woods of Northern Minnesota and forced into an unplanned all-night vigil, hiding from the snow under a balsam tree. Southern's confident picking and Lantry's fiddle provide a tempo that drives like the wind and snow through the night and sets an apt platform for the rest of the record to unfold. This little tale obviously belied a sense of confidence and survival which Southern has carried with him through the years, as a "Billy the Kid" character loosely weaves through the rest of the fourteen songs of which the writing and playing display considerably more grit and less pathos than many singer-songwriters. Interesting that Southern would choose this inspiration, the storied "El Chivato" as the protagonist for his songs as Billy himself says that he is a songwriter, a storyteller first, then a musician. And the literary bent to the lyrics, along with the well played acoustic accompaniment really works. El Chivato doesn't really sound like anything else. Sure, if you like the efficient carefully chosen words of John Prine, if you like the wry humor of Todd Snider, if you like the edgy rawness of Guy Clark you will like Billy Southern's new record. But Billy doesn't really sound like an offshoot of any of them. Billy Southern just sounds like Billy Southern. And isn't that what makes a new record truly stand out?

Previews/availability info at www.myspace.com/billysouthernmusic